High Altitude Acculmation

I recently (2 weeks ago) moved from ~14 ft above sea level to over 7000!

While my conditioning wasn't top notch before I moved to NM, it wasn't terrible either. Back in CA, I did nogi/gi competitions about every 8-10 weeks, so I was conditioned enough to compete well in those at least. I used to condition hard for about 75 min and finish the workout strong.

However, these last two weeks I am having a terrible time getting through my usual workouts. My warm ups feel terrible and I gas out (sometimes even start to feel nauseous/dizzy) by about 40 min. Half the time, I can't even finish the schedule routine.

Another caveat to all this is that I want to compete at Grapplefest 9 on May 4 but I'm afraid I will just get destroyed since the other competitors will be well adjusted to the high altitude.

How long should I expect before I become fully accumulated to 7000 ft? Can you speed up accumulation and if so, how? What has been your guys' experience as martial artists/combat athletes regarding altitude and training?

Thanks in advance!!

PS (not sure if this will help but I am a 31 year old female, non-smoker, 145 lbs and 5'4''. I trained jits for 4.5 years, training 4-6x/week and conditioned ~3-4x/week. Since being in NM, I don't have a formal grappling gym right now, so I've been conditioning in my basement, no grappling yet, about 5x/week)

No, not really. I'm pretty sure I would have to drive hours and it would only drop a few 1000 feet. I think I would still suck at 4000 as I do at 7000 but I'm totally new to this.

Ok, doesn't sound feasible time wise but that difference might be enough to consider it.
I asked because one method is to "train low, sleep high",
basic reasoning being you that can get a harder workout done at lower altitude and still reap the benefits by living at high altitude.

Other than that, paying a little extra attention to nutrition(iron supplements might not be a bad idea for example) and hydration makes a lot of sense.

How quickly you acclimate is a pretty individual thing from what i understand.

Ok, doesn't sound feasible time wise but that difference might be enough to consider it.
I asked because one method is to "train low, sleep high",
basic reasoning being you that can get a harder workout done at lower altitude and still reap the benefits by living at high altitude.

Other than that, paying a little extra attention to nutrition(iron supplements might not be a bad idea for example) and hydration makes a lot of sense.

How quickly you acclimate is a pretty individual thing from what i understand.

Yeah, I'm definitely not taking any supplements like I did back home. I'll start that ASAP. Hydration...does beer count? (joking; water makes sense too).

I wondered too if low cardio workouts for longer time periods would be better, worse or equivalent versus high cardio (or anaerobic to be exact) workouts for shorter time periods. I guess what I'm asking is, if I need to be working out a certain way to accumulate better. But I understand this is very dependent on the individual so maybe it doesn't even matter how I workout...?

Another commonly mentioned concern is adequate calories as your metabolic rate increases (duh you have to breathe more often and your heart has to work harder), yet appetite may be suppressed at high altitude.

I don't think there is as much of a purported benefit to training anaerobically at altitude, as the term might suggest. (That's not to say there isn't acclimation to be done.)
I do think setting a nice easy pace and building a base at the new altitude makes sense but don't really have anything to support that other than prudence.
People lose decision making skills when they get hypoxic.

His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten.

Join Date

Mar 2006

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Posted On:4/11/2013 8:01am

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I'd imagine that if you stick to your normal routine you'll be good to go by May 4th.

I agree it's very individual. When I was in the military we flew from sea level on the east coast to California for mountain warfare training. Some of the guys were sucking wind bad and some guys seemed to be bothered very little. After a week or so everybody was pretty much okay. Just my 2 cents.

Maybe it'll take you a little longer before you feel like yourself but I doubt it will take until May.